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Good freight rail and good passenger rail seem to be more or less mutually exclusive. Japan has one of the lowest rates of freight rail usage in the world, and

• mobilefriendly 9y ago
  No, it is all policy-driven. Japan's passenger rail companies are private businesses. The U.S. used to have the finest passenger rail too. But then the feds subsidized interstates, which collapsed U.S. passenger rail in the 1960s, and in turn nationalized the private companies into Amtrak. So the government killed the opportunity to reinvent U.S. passenger rail. Amtrak is a disaster, it is grossly undercapitalized and forced to maintain massively unprofitable long-distance rail.
  • Larrikin 9y ago
    Nearly all of the Japanese rail system was created directly through the government. Everything JR was once owned by the national government. Even as "private" companies the major subway companies in Tokyo are partnerships between the national and Tokyo government.
• TylerE 9y ago
  UK seems to do both pretty competently.
• protomyth 9y ago
  Japan used smaller gauge track for passenger. Combined with the need to keep freight from interfering with high speed trains (the opposite of the American situation) probably makes the case for your argument. Good passenger rail and priority screws cargo where good cargo screws passengers. Unless you can build two separate systems, optimization’s are not compatible.